This week, a report by Amnesty International highlighted the failure of EU export controls to deal with exports of surveillance technologies, which in the wrong hands risk contributing to violations of human rights.
The report outlines how three European companies from France, the Netherlands, and Sweden have sold different types of digital surveillance technology, including biometric surveillance technology, “to Chinese public security bureaus, criminal law enforcement agencies, and government-related research institutes, including in the region of Xinjiang.” It is well known that such technologies are used by the Chinese authorities to conduct mass surveillance of its population, and specifically to enforce draconian oppression of the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region.
In light of this week’s negotiations in Brussels on common export rules of digital surveillance technology, this report shines a light on the responsibility of policy-makers in regions who claim to champion human rights and the rule of law to ensure that they do not contribute to violations taking place elsewhere.
Items classified as dual-use are goods, software, and technology which can be used in any way for both civilian and military purposes. The EU is also able to implement such controls in some cases due to human rights considerations. The regulations covering such exports from the EU currently does not cover surveillance technologies like facial recognition. While such regulations need to be regularly updated to reflect technological developments, it is also crucial that they are formulated in a technology neutral way to ensure they remain relevant despite the fast development pace of surveillance and other technologies.
In today’s increasingly digitised society, threats no longer only emanate from traditional sources such as weapons. Digital tools developed for purposes unrelated to security are increasingly used to control populations and all but eradicate privacy.
While free trade is a pillar of liberalism and protectionism hampers development, it is crucial to ensure that regulation covering the export of dual-use items is robust enough to avoid systems of mass surveillance relying on European technology to aid authoritarian regimes in oppressing their populations.
Main image: goffkein via Freepik
